Anti-Muslim Incidents Since Sept. 11, 2001

A list of anti-Muslim hate crimes and bias incidents collected by the SPLC from news reports since 9/11.

Submitted by the Southern Poverty Law Center to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human RightsCommittee on the JudiciaryU.S. SenateMarch 29, 2011

• Sept. 11, 2001 – Ronkonkoma, New YorkBrian Harris, 29, was charged with a hate crime after he allegedly held an Arab American at gunpoint while making anti-Arab threats.• Sept. 11, 2001 – Eugene, OregonChristopher Paul Younce, 33, was charged with a hate crime after allegedly making a threatening phone call to the Islamic Cultural Center.

• Sept. 12, 2001 – South Huntington, New YorkAdam Lang, 76, was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and a hate crime after he allegedly tried to run down a Pakistani woman with his car.• Sept. 13, 2001 – Somerset, CaliforniaCraig Jennings, 18; Jeffrey Lizotte, 17, and a 16-year-old were charged with a hate crime after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail onto the roof of a convenience store owned by Arab Americans.• Sept. 12, 2001 – Salt Lake City, UtahMichael Herrick, a 31-year-old white man, was charged with first-degree felony aggravated arson and a hate crime after allegedly starting a fire at a Pakistani family’s restaurant.

• Sept. 15, 2001 – Mesa, ArizonaBalbir Singh Sodhi, a 49-year-old Sikh and native of India, was fatally shot outside his gas station by Frank Silva Roque, who mistakenly believed Sodhi was Muslim. Roque then allegedly fired shots at a man of Lebanese descent working at another gas station, and at an Afghan family’s residence.

• Sept. 15, 2001 – Dallas, TexasWaqar Hasan, a 46-year-old Pakistani immigrant, was shot to death in his convenience store. Mark Stroman, who allegedly said he was angry with people of Middle Eastern descent after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was charged with Hasan’s murder. Stroman was also charged with the Oct. 4 murder of Vasudev Patel, a 49-year-old native of India, at a gas station convenience store in Mesquite, Texas.

• Sept. 18, 2001 – Fort Worth, TexasThree middle school students were charged with making a terroristic threat after allegedly threatening and harassing a schoolmate of Indian descent.

• Sept. 19, 2001 – San Francisco, CaliforniaAnti-Arab graffiti was spray-painted on an Iraqi-American grocery store in three separate incidents.

• Sept. 29, 2001 – Reedley, CaliforniaAbdo Ali Ahmed, a 51-year-old Yemeni man, was shot to death outside his convenience store. Two days earlier a note reading, “We’re going to kill all (expletive) Arabs,” was left on his car windshield. • Oct. 16, 2001 – Racine, WisconsinAndrew E. Savagae, 40, was charged with a hate crime for allegedly yelling at an Indian store owner Savage believed to be of Middle Eastern descent.

• Nov. 2, 2001 – Tacoma, WashingtonA bomb was detonated outside the home of a family of Middle Eastern descent.

• Nov. 6, 2001 – Madison, WisconsinJeremy A. Giese, 21, was charged with a hate crime, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct for allegedly smashing the window of a bar after seeing two men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent.

• Feb. 19, 2002 – Palermo, New York Mitchel Trumble, 18, was charged with felony criminal mischief as a hate crime and fourth-degree criminal mischief for allegedly participating in the destruction of a Sikh temple in November.

• Feb. 21, 2002 – Norwalk, CaliforniaJames Scott Yungkans, 37, was sentenced to a year in jail and placed on three years’ probation for threatening a store clerk of Middle Eastern descent in September.

• March 25, 2002 – Tallahassee, FloridaCharles Franklin, 51, was charged with burglary and criminal mischief after allegedly vandalizing a local mosque because he hated Muslims.

• April 10, 2002 – Oswego, New YorkJoshua Centrone, William J. Reeves and Mitcheal W. Trumbull, all 18, and Cassie Hudson, 19, were charged with a hate crime for allegedly burning a Sikh temple in September 2001. Centrone was sentenced in May to three to nine years in prison.

• April 12, 2002 – Madison, WisconsinThomas D. Iverson, 45, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for making a threatening call to a man of Middle Eastern descent in September 2001.

• May 4, 2002 – Alexandria, VirginiaMichael Woolls, 24, was charged with assault, attempted assault motivated by bias against national origin, and destruction of property after allegedly throwing a brick through the car window of a man of Middle Eastern descent.

• May 14, 2002 – New York, New York • William Reeves, 18, was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for setting fire to a Sikh temple in November 2001.

• May 22, 2002 – Evansville, IndianaJohn Joseph Kirkwood, 28, was sentenced to four years in prison for driving his car into an Islamic center in September.• May 28, 2002 – Parish, New York Cassie J. Hudson, 19, was sentenced to three months in prison for vandalizing and setting fire to a Sikh temple in November. Hudson was placed on probation for five years, ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and fined $1,000.

• May 28, 2002 – Kent, WashingtonJohn Bethel, 45, was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for assaulting a man of Indian descent after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

• June 8, 2002 – Gainesville, FloridaRobert Rowland, 53, was charged with two hate crimes after allegedly threatening three people of Indian descent while spraying them with bug spray.

• July 7, 2002 – Nassau, New YorkJohn Yang, 25, was charged with second-degree criminal mischief, second-degree menacing and fourth-degree criminal possession of a dangerous weapon for allegedly threatening to shoot two Muslim brothers while yelling racial slurs. Anti-Muslim epithets were also spray-painted on the family’s property.

• July 15, 2002 – Detroit, MichiganBrent D. Seever, 38, was sentenced to life in prison for killing an Arab-American man after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

• July 23, 2002 – Heber City, UtahA Muslim-owned hotel was set afire.

• July 30, 2002 – Baltimore, MarylandDennis Odell Coe, a 32-year-old white man, was charged with three counts of committing a crime upon a person for ethnic reasons, two counts of second-degree assault and one count each of malicious destruction of property and disorderly conduct for allegedly attacking two men of Middle Eastern descent.

• Aug. 6, 2002 – Reno, NevadaDavid Nolette, 15, and Scott Cannady, 17, were sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for the baseball beatings of two Muslim men in March 2001. Nolette and Cannady were also ordered to pay $563,000 in restitution to one victim and $850 to the other.

• Aug. 8. 2002 – Palos Hills, IllinoisJohn Stewart, 34, was sentenced to two years of probation and 20 hours of community service for threatening his Syrian neighbors after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

• Aug. 22, 2002 – Seminole, FloridaDr. Robert Goldstein, 37, was charged with possessing destructive devices and attempting to damage and destroy buildings by means of explosive devices after a police search of his residence turned up 20 homemade explosive devices, two light rockets, a sniper rifle, an assortment of assault rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition. Also found was a plan to target Islamic Centers in Florida, with the objective to “Kill all ‘rags’ at this Islamic Education Center.”

• Aug. 27, 2002 – Boston, MassachusettsZachary J. Rolnik, 40, was sentenced to two months in prison and fined $5,000 for threatening to kill an Arab-American spokesman and his family.

• Oct. 4, 2002 – Queens, New YorkTwo men allegedly attacked a 17-year-old Middle Eastern teenager because of his ethnicity while accusing him of being in the Taliban and blaming him for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

• March 17, 2003 – Boca Raton, FloridaGeorge Aboujawdeh, 46, was sentenced to one month in prison after repeatedly setting fire to a sign announcing the new site of an Islamic community Center and mosque.

• May 12, 2003 – Bensalem, PennsylvaniaThree boys, two white 13-year-olds and a black 12-year-old, allegedly attacked an 8-year-old child of Middle Eastern descent while calling him “you Saddam Hussein helper” and telling him to “go back to Iraq.”

• May 19, 2003 – Tallahassee, FloridaCharles Franklin, 41, was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for driving his pickup truck into a mosque while yelling anti-Muslim threats in March 2002.

• June 4, 2003 – San Diego, CaliforniaHundreds of copies of a publication portraying Muslim women as sexual objects and ridiculing Jews, Jesus and Palestinians were distributed at the University of California - San Diego.

• June 22, 2003 – Boston, MassachusettsThree men were arrested for allegedly hog-tying, beating and stabbing a pizza deliveryman because they mistakenly believed he was Muslim.

• June 23, 2003 – Salem, OregonA 12-year-old Israeli Arab boy playing outside his house was allegedly called a terrorist and punched in the face by another 12-year-old.

• July 24, 2003 – College Park, MarylandA wooden cross was burned at an Islamic school. Two 17-year-old boys were charged with harassment related to religious beliefs and damaging the property of a religious entity.

• Sept. 18, 2003 – Tempe, ArizonaA swastika, a thunderbolt-shaped “SS” and other Nazi symbols were spray-painted on a mosque.

• March 6, 2004 – Lubbock, TexasAnti-Islamic and pro-American slogans were written on an Islamic Center that was also burglarized. Four teenagers were charged with burglary.• March 9, 2004 – Davis, CaliforniaA white man allegedly made a comment about terrorists to a Middle Eastern man at a gas station and later pointed a handgun at the man and made threatening remarks.

• April 6, 2004 – Tampa, FloridaTwo women and a man allegedly attacked a Muslim woman, yanking on her headscarf and calling Muslim people violent, reportedly in reaction to the commuter-train bombing in Spain.

• April 19, 2004 – Dover Township, New JerseyWindows at an Islamic Center were broken, walls were damaged and swastikas and sexually explicit and anti-Semitic statements were scrawled on two doors.• April 22, 2004 – Denton, TexasA window and glass door of an Islamic Society building were shot out.

• May 10, 2004 – Miami, FloridaA Muslim mosque was broken into and ransacked. A glass door was smashed, telephone lines were cut, and an alarm system was destroyed.

• July 31, 2006 – Cliffside Park, New JerseyA woman and her toddler were allegedly assaulted by their neighbor, who yelled racial slurs and screamed, “You Arabs, I’m going to get you back for Sept. 11.” William Brown, 62, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of bias intimidation.

• Jan. 24, 2007 – Newark, New JerseyA mosque was set afire. The blaze appeared to have begun in coils of rope put on a back deck of the building.

• Feb. 20, 2007 – Ballard, WashingtonA white man and a white woman allegedly used racial slurs against a Yemeni deli owner and his Yemeni employee and called them terrorists before assaulting the owner. Brian D. Lappin, 35, and Nichol A. Kirk, 25, were charged with malicious harassment under the state’s hate crime law.

• May 12, 2007 – Little Falls, New JerseyDavid Liscio, 32, was charged with harassment, making terroristic threats and bias intimidation after he allegedly shouted racial slurs at a Latino Muslim woman.

• May 22, 2007 – Lynn Haven, FloridaThomas E. Plaisted was charged with battery evidencing bias after he allegedly spit on a Muslim child and shoved another at a fast-food restaurant.• June 23, 2007 – St. Cloud, MinnesotaPhillip Joseph Massa, 33, was charged with obstructing the legal process and fourth-degree gross misdemeanor assault motivated by bias after he allegedly assaulted a man of Muslim descent.

• June 29, 2007 – Nutley, New JerseyKerri A. Livesay, 34, was charged with simple assault and a bias crime after allegedly screaming curses and assaulting a teen wearing traditional Muslim garb at a store.

• July 6, 2007 – Sarasota, FloridaAnti-Islamic epithets were spray-painted on a Bosnian family's residence that was then set afire.

• July 13, 2007 – San Antonio, TexasA Muslim family's vehicles were vandalized with messages telling them to move.

• July 30, 2007 – Shreveport, LouisianaRussell Price, 22, a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old were charged with spray-painting profanity and drug symbols on an Islamic Association building.• Aug. 6, 2007 – Glendale, ArizonaA chemical bomb was tossed from a car at a mosque. The bomb landed near two people associated with the Albanian American Islamic Center.

• July 26, 2007 – Corvallis, OregonJesse J. Mason, 24, was arrested after allegedly throwing furniture and smashing a window at a residence of two men he believed were of Middle Eastern descent while yelling, “This is America — Arabs and al-Qaida out of the country.” Mason also allegedly had spit on the two men a few days earlier and made similar remarks in front of a bar.• Sept. 11, 2007 – Tempe, ArizonaMichael Estes, 32, was charged with suspicion of disorderly conduct after he allegedly cursed at an imam at an Islamic community center and made other negative remarks to him on the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

• Sept. 15, 2007 – Matinecock, New YorkAn Iranian-American nail salon owner was allegedly beaten by two robbers who called her a “terrorist” and scrawled anti-Muslim messages on a mirror in her shop.

• Oct. 6, 2007 – Bakersfield, CaliforniaTwo men allegedly entered the women's section of a mosque and yelled anti-Middle Eastern slurs such as “terrorists go home.” Later that night, about 10 people allegedly smashed windows and damaged cars at the mosque.

•Oct. 24, 2007 – Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaKia Reid, 35, a former hotel-catering manager who in October 2006 sent her Arab-American boss an anonymous note threatening her children and referring to 9/11, was sentenced to two years of probation.

• Jan. 14, 2008 – New Hyde Park, New YorkA 63-year-old Sikh man was attacked outside his temple, allegedly by a man who yelled profanities and screamed, “Arab, go back to your country.” David Wood, 36, was second-degree assault as a hate crime, second- and third-degree assault and second-degree aggravated harassment.

• Jan. 22, 2008 – Blaine, MinnesotaThree men used bottles of combustible liquid to set a fire in a convenience store. The word “Arab” was also spray-painted on the building.

• March 11, 2008 – Hayward, CaliforniaManuel Urango was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Alia Ansari, an Afghani-born mother of six. Ansari was killed allegedly because of her Muslim heritage.• March 26, 2008 – Nashville, TennesseeEric Ian Baker, 32, Michael Corey Golden, 23, and Jonathan Edward Stone, 18, were indicted on federal civil rights charges for burning down an Islamic Center on Feb. 9, 2008. Stone and Baker reportedly identified themselves as followers of the white supremacist Christian Identity movement.

• May 22, 2008 – Rochester, MinnesotaThree teens were charged with bias crimes, including gross misdemeanor harassment, after they allegedly yelled racial slurs and spit on a person outside an Islamic Center.

• July 3, 2008 – Seattle, WashingtonEdward Campbell, 42, was charged with one count of malicious harassment after he allegedly called a store clerk, whom he believed was Muslim, a terrorist and struck him on the head with a can of beer.

• June 27, 2009 – Yermo, CaliforniaAli Abdelhadi Mohd, 51, a native of Jordan, was found burned to death in his family's vacant house that had been set afire. Mohd was at the residence to clean anti-Arab and white supremacist graffiti that had been scrawled inside. A mosque on the family’s property also was set afire in 2007.

• July 1, 2009 – Seattle, WashingtonEric Lee Garner, 24, was charged with second-degree assault and malicious harassment for allegedly making anti-Muslim remarks and threatening to cut a woman and her infant.

• Aug. 20, 2009 – Smithtown, New YorkJoseph Ballance, 23, was charged with aggravated harassment for allegedly attempting to run over two Muslim women at a gas station and threatening to kill them because of their religion.• Sept. 8, 2009 – Ann Arbor, MichiganA 16-year-old Muslim girl of Iraqi heritage was allegedly attacked on a school bus by a group of people who shouted ethnic slurs. Her brother was also allegedly attacked while coming to her defense.

• Sept. 8, 2009 – Cape Girardeau, MissouriNicholas T. Proffit, 32, was sentenced to three years in prison for vandalizing an Islamic Center in May.

• Nov. 7, 2009 – Tinley Park, IllinoisValerie Kenney, 54, was charged with a hate crime for allegedly yanking the headscarf of a Muslim woman two days after the Fort Hood shootings.

• June 11, 2010 – Sunnyvale, CaliforniaA Muslim man who was holding a copy of the Koran was allegedly attacked by two men who called the victim a terrorist.

• June 23, 2010 – Murfreesboro, TennesseeA sign marking the future site of an Islamic Center was vandalized for the second time in less than six months.• June 25, 2010 – Bellevue, WashingtonA van parked near a mosque and bearing advertisements about Islam was smeared with what appeared to be dog feces.

• Aug. 6, 2010 – Arlington, TexasPornographic graffiti depicting Uncle Sam having sex with Allah was spray-painted in the parking lot of an Islamic Center where other acts of graffiti and a fire have occurred.

• Aug. 20, 2010 – Madera, CaliforniaA brick was thrown at an Islamic Center building. Previously three anti-Islamic signs, including one signed by the “American Nationalist Brotherhood,” had been left at the center.

Aug. 24, 2010 – Madera, CaliforniaSigns reading, "Wake up America, the enemy is here," were left at an Islamic Center.

• Aug. 24, 2010 – New York, New YorkMichael Enright, 21, allegedly slashed a taxi driver’s neck and face after Enright discovered the man was Muslim. Enright was charged with attempted murder, assault as a hate crime and possession of a weapon.

• Aug. 25, 2010 – Queens, New YorkA drunken man allegedly shouted anti-Muslim slurs and urinated on prayer rugs in a mosque.• Aug. 28, 2010 – Murfreesboro, TennesseeA piece of construction equipment was set afire and gasoline was poured over other pieces of equipment at the future site of an Islamic Center.

• Sept. 11, 2010 – Columbus, OhioThe numbers “9-11” were spray-painted on windows and countertops at a Muslim-owned market. Some cash and a laptop computer were also stolen and several display cases were vandalized.

• Sept. 20, 2010 – Lafayette, LouisianaA car in the parking lot of an Islamic community center was set afire.

• Sept. 22, 2010 – Fairview Heights, IllinoisRoman Otto Conway, 59, was arrested after a seven-hour standoff with law enforcement officers who had come to his residence to investigate telephone threats he allegedly made against the Muslim community and President Obama. Conway also allegedly posted on Facebook that he planned to burn a copy of the Koran.

• Oct. 4, 2010 – Manhattan, New YorkThe wife of the imam of the Muslim community center proposed to be built near the spot of the 9/11 terror attacks said she and her husband had received death threats over an extended period of time.

• Oct. 10, 2010 – Staten Island, New YorkThree 14-year-old Latino youths and one 15-year-old black youth were charged with assault and aggravated harassment after they allegedly taunted a fellow classmate for his Muslim faith and repeatedly assaulted him from October 2009 to June 2010.

• Oct. 10, 2010 – Florence, South CarolinaThe words “Pig Chump” were spelled out in bacon outside an Islamic Center.• Oct. 13, 2010 – New York, New YorkA Muslim woman and her 4-year-old son were allegedly attacked by a man who called her “a terrorist,” punched her in the face and tried to hit her son.

• Oct. 16, 2010 – Burien, WashingtonJennifer Leigh Jennings, 37, was charged with a hate crime after she allegedly kicked one Muslim woman and slammed a car door on another at a gas station while yelling anti-Muslim remarks.

• Oct. 26, 2010 – Oxford, North CarolinaA white man was charged with ethnic intimidation after he allegedly shouted slurs and spit on a black woman when he discovered she was Muslim.

• Nov. 28, 2010 – Portland, OregonAn inmate at the county jail allegedly used anti-Muslim slurs and assaulted another inmate.

• Dec. 14, 2010 – Cincinnati, OhioAn E-mail was sent to the Islamic Association of Cincinnati that stated, “You should know that you are not wanted in Cincinnati ... We don't want you here. Mohammad is a joke. Go back to your desert. Beware. We may just declare jihad on you.”

• Dec. 22, 2010 – Twin Falls, IdahoA Muslim woman shopping with her two children was allegedly threatened by a man who claimed he had killed Muslims and planned to kill more and that he had a concealed weapon. The man was charged with felony malicious harassment.

• Feb. 4, 2011 – St. Petersburg, FloridaBradley Kent Strott, 52, allegedly stabbed a 57-year-old Muslim man during a conversation at a bar after the man told Strott he was a Muslim. Strott, who allegedly said, “Muslims are the root of the problem” during the attack, was charged with hate crime aggravated battery.

• Feb. 13, 2011 – Yorba Linda, CaliforniaA group of 100 protesters taunt Muslims, including small children, entering a fundraising event with statements such as “Muhammad was a child molester!,” “Go back home! Terrorists!,” and “Why not go have sex with a 9-year-old?” A city councilwoman had earlier told the protesters that she “kn[e]w quite a few Marines who will be very happy to help these terrorists to an early meeting in paradise.”

• March 6, 2011 – Fairfield, IowaAn Arab-American filmmaker was repeatedly punched and kicked allegedly by four men who used racial slurs during the attack. The incident occurred after the man, who had entered a residence while looking for a party, told the men his name was Usama.

• Week of March 7, 2011 – Anaheim, CaliforniaA page torn from a copy of the Koran, with an expletive written on it, was taped to a Muslim woman's car. Foam was sprayed on the driver's seat and the vehicle was vandalized with a key.